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The judge in the George Zimmerman case denied to recuse himself Wednesday, ruling that a defense motion asking him to step down was "legally insufficient."
"The defendant's verified motion to disqualify judge is hereby denied as legally insufficient," Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester ruled.
Zimmerman, the 28-year-old Florida man charged with second-degree murder in the killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, asked for a new judge in his case last month, accusing Lester of bias.
Zimmerman alleged in the filing that Lester made "gratuitous" and "disparaging remarks" about him during a July 5 bond hearing and offered "a personal opinion" in the case.
George Zimmerman's wife will not be at arraignment after not guilty plea
"In doing so, the Court has created a reasonable fear in Mr. Zimmerman that this Court is biased against him and because of this prejudice he cannot receive a fair and impartial trial or hearing by this Court," the motion said.
It is unclear whether Zimmerman will appeal the judge's decision.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Good morning Zimmerdummies! It's been awhile since the last Zimmerpig article. Hope you are keeping well; I see you are still keeping the faith with your hero Zimmerpuke. Things aren't looking good for you though, not good at all. Zimmerthug will be convicted of murder and sent to jail; then what are you going to do? Petition outside the jail maybe?? Lol...Zimmerdummies...gotta love 'em!
Zimmerman and O'Mara are judge-shopping. When they find one they think will favor them, then they'll quit asking for the judge to step down.
Good for Lester in refusing this ploy.
They might want to check the KKK rolls for a judge. It's the only way they will get the favoritism they are looking for.
Zimmerman is lucky he dosent have more than one trial wating for him. Not that surprised he dosen't, though.
Give it time. May have a trial for contempt of court coming up in the future.
The judge "denied to recuse himself"?! Vicky and Becky, do either of you know how to write? I think the word you were going for is "declined."
This was a win win for Zimmermans team..This Judge will dot his I's and cross his T's from now on.. No Judge likes being reversed on appeal..
There is such a thing as an Interlocutory Appeal, ( I don t know the rules in Florida ), Zimmerman s team can stop these proceedings and drive this Judge crazy ...
I assure you they have this Judges undivided attention
Zimmerman will go free !!!!!
Yeah, right. Like any judge is not going to have all the same evidence in front of him that Lester has, lol. The man lied to the court and conned his wife into lying to the court. Too bad. Bad decision of Zimmerman's part. Looks like he has a very long history of making bad decisions and then not wanting to take responsibility for them.
a win win? let me guess the SH interview was a win win too. LOL
That was a bad car wreck!
al-2891335
Hardly. Criminal trials are NOT stopped and interlocutory appeals permitted. No court would ever be able to conclude a trial if such tactics were allowed. A post-conviction appeal might be taken, but prejudicial error must be proven (in such areas as rulings on admissibility of evidence or how jury was instructed) for the appeals court to vacate a jury's verdict and order a new trial.
Remember also that Zimmerman may be sued in civil court for wrongful death. That's what happened to OJ Simpson after he was acquitted in the criminal trial, and he lost the civil action.
Pattie - No duh but Zimmerman has no money so doubt it. I feel this has ALWAYS been about the money and to try and get rid of the guns....
I doubt that Martin's parents would get anything for the same reason. But for me it's about transparent law enforcement and criminal justice systems, ones in which everybody can have faith, and making sure the laws (gun or otherwise) are written so that they don't provide a loophole for someone who really is committing a crime. A case such as this, in which an unarmed person, not legally an adult, was shot in the dark by a stranger and died as a result, and the shooter is the only one alive capable of talking about it, raises a lot of questions that should be resolved in public. I can just imagine what would have happened if Zimmerman's shot had not been fatal and we could hear Martin's side of the story.
The condo complex will rightfully be held responsible as George Zimmerman was a "community watch" person.
Judge and
prosecutor are of one mind in their views about the Zimmerman case. They both
fear that an acquittal will cause anger and result in a racial explosion. The
business community needs peaceful and orderly shoppers, which is why Zimmerman
must be found guilty and sentenced to a long prison term.
You are as delusional as old Georgie Boy. George doesn't even have the power to manage his own life, let alone orchestrate a riot on his behalf.
polnick: how do you know how the judge and prosecutor feel about this case, or what, if any, fears they have? Why is a "racial explosion" an issue here? How is the "business community" communicating that Zimmerman "must" be found guilty? Who do you know? What have you heard? Lester has presided over several criminal trials and has imposed the death penalty before, so he is no "greenhorn" when it comes to giving jury instructions.
He knows he is guilty...just wont admit it. Just like an 80 y/o baby.
Sooo tired of the Zim..... Hopefully "God's Plan" involves a life sentance.
God's Plan Part II: state prison for George Zimmerman.
I agree with you 100%.
He should get the same treatment he has given. that's what would of happened in the olden days.( eye for an eye)
Zimmerman wants all the benefits of the doubts he denied Martin.
Zimmerman I hope you burn- The cops told you to back off- but you didn't- You wanted to shoot someone and you did. Hang you!!- :)
Mar - try looking at the facts in the case before you post such hate... Nice talking to you...
Hey, dani...pot meet kettle, lol.
Zimmerman needs a good needs tailor. So he can wear that life sentence.
This judge is know to be quite fair, set a fair bail till it was brought to his attention he was lied to and deceived. No judge is going to be very nice when that happens nor when people try to turn their courtroom into a three ring circus.
Still feel the shooting was justifiable as he was being attacked, Zimmermann and his lawyers need to show this and not play games with silly motions.
It has recently been revealed that Peru is the cocaine capital of South America.
Peruvian flake...
You're done, Zim. The hoser gets hosed. Nice to see him going down for what he did and for what he stands for.
If he feels so strongly about how the judge feels then why not take the plea deal and get it over with? Looks like his faith in the system is void after all. It's funny his lawyer told him to say he still believed in the system. He is an obvious layer and I don't know how some of you don't see it or just don't care as long as he gets off. Is g man looking for another lap to sit on during trial???
I won't comment on the ongoing story, only on the writing and editing of the story by Victoria Moll-Ramirez and Becky Bratu, as well as usnews.nbcnews.com and any intervening editors:
The lede, the most important sentence in the piece, uses "denied to recuse." No! The judge denied the motion to recuse. This is basic English vocabulary, folks. Basic literacy. Argh!
George and his stoogies have sunk his chances. It doesn't make any difference who he gets as a judge. They will watch him like a hawk. George life is priceless, now you must pay.
G man is just mad that the judge let the story about him sexually assaulting his niece for a good 10 years get out
Umm...SantaCMama...are you refering to the "lead" as in "lead sentence"? Basic literacy, right? Just sayin'.
Gimme a break already.....Zimmerman is a "vigilante" with a gun..(10s of thousands of those here in Florida)......But even with that, there is no way that Trayvon was totally innocent in all of this....Skittles and iced tea my a-s..........If he had just stopped, like anyone with a brain would do, he would be alive today....But he didn't, and now we have to have a dog & pony show to appease the black community.....
But the end will be the same, Zimmerman will get off..
The ones I feel sorry for are the parents of the black teenager,(not "child")...They lost a son and will be used by the media until something better comes along.......
Casey Anthony was a slam dunk incident, and look what happened......Florida isn't exactly known for its "smart people".
The Casey Anthony case was far from a slam dunk. They had no physical evidence against her, they couldn't even place the body in the car after all that "smell of dead body" talk. With Zimmerman we have a smoking gun. He persued and shot an unarmed kid, what happened between the time he started following this kid and him shooting the kid is open to all sorts of explanations and Zimmerman is going to lie as much as he thinks he can get away with to make Trayvon out to be the aggressor, he would be crazy not to.
Skittles and Iced tea your ass Rom? Well, your ass is 100% correct. This is what he had on him. He went to the store for iced tea and skittles for his little brother at half-time in the NBA all-star game. He was going back to watch the game on a direct route home, he wasn't looking for trouble and his hood was up becasue it was raining. The mentally unstable Zimmerman saw the hood and jumped to idiotic, paranoid conclusions about Martin.
And Mr. Brown:...You know what this kid's intentions were?....How?.......And I'm sure he had a loaf of bread for his grandmother too....
Maybe if the family's attorneys didn't portray this "child" as a kid that never did anything wrong, it wouldn't appear as it did.
And Zimmerman's injuries?...Come Mr. Brown, tell me....THIS I just have to hear.
Nothing found on him but Skittles and Iced Tea. Trayvon is not on trial. George Zimmerman is on trial. What you are attempting to do is tatamount to defending a rapist by saying, 'Hey, she wasn't innocent. If she hadn't been wearing that short skirt...."
Despicable strategy.
Incident I can imagine myself. GZ grabs TM and they fall to Ground- as TM rolls on top of GZ and screams for help as he lash's out at his attacker while attempting to get away- He's shot. GZ then slams his head back on concrete as he thinks"WTF did I just do..". That explains the witness reports and the "slamming of the head" on the concrete both. Just another possible scene of incident.
If and when G man goes to prison what gang do you think he will join?? Since it's Florida I will say umm MS 13. No wait maybe the arian brotherhood might except him. Who knows
Aryan Nation
Aryan Tribe
So proud to kill
So proud to lie
This judge just gave him an appeal.
Great legal strategy: Lie to judge. Judge finds out. Demand new judge because current Judge knows you're a lying piece of sh()t.
On the other hand, no matter what you say, you must remember this is florida, a state so stupid it elected a thief governor, a state so stupid that it allows any moron to carry a gun anywhere - except where the morons really should carry guns: on the floor of the upcoming GOP convention.
JimD-406742
That's true...it won't surprise me if he gets off...
but he will NEVER be FREE...
I feel if Trayvon was really a thug, regardless if he was walking to the store and back home or putting in work, he would have had a knife on him or something to protect himself with. Maybe, just maybe he actually was just trying to enjoy his time with his dad and brother.
I didn't think his dad was even home?
And?
Trayvon Martin , his half brother and his father were watching the nba allstar game. Trayvon martin went to the 7-11 during halftime.
Trayvon was not a "thug". He did not have any gang afiliations, and had no police record
if you had bothered to watch the trial you would have seen that the judge was biased, his comments were very inapropriate. One thing is correct even if found guilty by this judge he will get another trial because of the judge. Fix the problem now, or would you rather waste the money?
TRIAL? There hasn't been a TRIAL....
sheeesh...
GZ wants to judge shop, to find one that likes him...
Judges are too smart to ever like someone like him....
Sure sounds like there has been... just saying
A bail hearing is not a trial. Jury selection has not even begun. A judge can express displeasure with a defendant's conduct in ruling on a motion without being "inappropriate" or "biased". If and when a jury finds Zimmerman guilty, it would be very difficult to get the verdict vacated without a showing of real misconduct on the judge's part or prejudicial error in one of his rulings during the trial. As for "bias," there needs to be a showing of the grounds for the charge.
Here, we have a white, male judge in his late 50's, married to a prosecutor in another county, who has grown children, who may or may not own a gun himself, and who has presided over criminal trials in which he has handed down the death penalty. Why would he be intrinsically against Zimmerman? On what grounds would he be required to recuse himself?
What trial?
The trial by the media and public opinion.. that trial
So for all you folks that believe the judge in the Zimmerman Case should step down simply because Killerman lied about his finances and the judge expressed his dissatisfaction? But the judge allowed this Killerman to post bail after his deception, shouldn't that defuse the matter..?
If that's the case, then you people should expect that all (minority) cases handled by the admittedly racist Montana Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull; who made racially charge comments about Pres. Obama's mother, should be investigated and dropped. And the judge should step down because of his obvious and admitted racist mindset..?